Nick Bearden Interview

We're currently fudging with our format for the Bromagination Podcast. The first five episode have followed a pretty basic format of a little mini-lesson type of thing as well as a guest interview. We have decided to try something new moving forward. I'm not sure if we're going to do multiple episodes each week or if we're gonna alternate our lesson conversations with interviews on a weekly basis. Either way, we're switching stuff up with the podcast. As such, I've decided to break up the way I'm presenting the content of the week in two separate posts. The last post was about the mini-lesson and this one is to tell you all about our guest this week.

And yes! We had a VERY special guest this week. Nick Bearden from the amazing Jamestown Revival.

For those of you who don't know Jamestown Revival, I suggest you check them out. I would try to describe them to you but I don't think I could really do them any justice. Check out this sick video:

Nick was such a badass to have on the show. I first met Nick when I was just a little guy. In sixth grade, my buddy and I tried out for the talent show playing Nirvana's Heart Shaped Box. We didn't get into the show, but we went anyway. The headlining act was the Ms. Ashby band, with Nick as the drummer (his first instrument).

Since then, Nick has gone on to do some pretty amazing things with Jamestown. In his interview, he tells a captivating story of how he threw it all away to pursue his musical passion and how all the little things came together to bring him to this point in his life. It was an honor to have him on our show. Check him out here!

What the Hell is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness has been getting a lot of press lately. This week, while standing in line at the grocery store, I looked over and saw a magazine with a girl sitting in lotus position with the heading "Mindfulness" in big letters across the front. As someone who has been studying Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness for about 14 years, it was exciting to me to see something like this in the grocery store. What was even more exciting was the fact that it was not a stand alone obscure magazine in a health food store. It was a special edition of Time magazine!

While mindfulness has been a practice in many eastern cultures and religions for thousands of years, in the west it seems to have been ignored and even condemned in some places. People like Alan Watts and Ram Dass are two names that come to mind when I think of pioneers, but their approaches were based on their experience with religion and turned a lot of people who are devout in their own religions off to the ideas of mindfulness.

For hundreds of years, Zen Buddhists have been preaching the benefits of mindfulness and sharing the techniques for creating a stress free life, but perhaps the person who deserves credit for bringing these practices into the mainstream is Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts. Kabat-Zinn, a student of Zen philosophy and founder of the Cambridge Zen Center, recognized the benefits of mindfulness in regards to stress and health and in 1979 created the Stress Reduction Center at the University of Massachusetts. He realized waaaaay back then that there were some serious benefits to this mindfulness, and if anyone can demonstrate its value, I feel like a Professor of Medicine at a prestigious school is probably just the guy.

Slowly but surely, mindfulness practice is making its way into the consciousness of the general public.  It has become painfully obvious that mindfulness is beneficial to everyone in the world. Advances in science are proving that it's not just some mystical bullshit. Bodies actually heal from meditation. People actually become more happy from practicing mindfulness.

In our fifth installment of The Bromagination Podcast, we discuss mindfulness as a benefit and a way to start eliminating the useless stress in your life in order to make room for the stuff you actually enjoy. We'll be sharing with you some techniques to get you started as well as some techniques to help you continue to practice mindfulness in your daily lives. We'll be diving deep into the subject and we're hoping you get as much out of our mindfulness episode as you will from practicing mindfulness.

Episode 2 - Gaining the Confidence to Get Creative

Call me paranoid, but I feel that there are forces at work designed to keep us from branching out. I know I'm not the only one to think that. Hell, even the writers at Disney feel that creativity is being squashed out. In the Disney/Pixar movie, A Bugs Life, Flick is an inventive young ant whose creativity sometimes gets him into trouble. The rest of the ants all roll their eyes at his attempts to be useful to the colony. In the end, however, Flick overcomes adversity, and the other members of the colony finally accept him.

I think that's kind of a bummer.

If you think about it, all the greatest achievements over the last several hundred years have originated in the mind of some super nerd who decided they weren't gonna let their inhibitions stop them from becoming great. From Leonardo Da Vinci to Steve Jobs, these greats weren't your typical sword carrying, football jersey-clad meatheads. While meatheads have their place in history (thanks for getting us to the Renaissance, boys!) and a place in the world (I make my living as an electrical construction worker), we now live in an era where the ones who are making the greatest changes aren't necessarily the ones who grew up to be captain of the football team.

I'm bringing this up because in my experience, artists, inventors, and creators are not normally outgoing, boisterous, alpha-male types. In terms of personality, they're more like introverts. So what happens when a person creates something amazing and wants to share it with the world, but lacks the confidence necessary to do so? There is only one way: face and overcome your fear.

In this weeks podcast, we have mini-lesson about developing creative confidence. That is, overcoming any hangups you might have about breaking into a new hobby or picking back up an old one. Brian offers a terrific peace of advice for this, Ask yourself what's the worst thing that could possibly happen?

When you really mull it over in your head, you'll realize that the very worst thing that could happen is that someone might laugh at you. Or maybe if you share your desire with someone, they may give you negative feedback or criticize you for being a "dreamer."

But ask yourself another question. What is the best thing that could possibly happen? What if your passion takes off and you're able to quit your job and do what you absolutely love for a living?

In this weeks episode, we interviewed Michael Patrick from www.PatrickArts.com. At 30, Michael did this exact thing. He took a leap of faith and started down a whole new path. Click the link in the top right corner to listen to Episode 2 of the Bromagination Podcast and hear Michael discuss his journey.

Episode 2 Links

TED Talk with David Kelly: How to Build Your Confidence

Bishop Briggs

Michael Patrick & Patrick Arts

Scratch Art Supplies

Scratch-Art

Scratch-art scratch sticks

New in 2017 - The Bromagination Podcast is Now Streaming!

    You've been patiently waiting, and for your reward, we have fulfilled our promise to you and yesterday we uploaded the very first episode of the Bromagination Podcast. Check it out here!

    As a way to let our listeners know more about us, we each prepared a little personal essay/narrative. We wanted to let our listeners to get to know us on a more personal level.

    Because we don't intend to follow the same format for the duration of the show, we also gave a sick breakdown of what you listeners can expect from us in the future. One of the features will be book recommendations. This weeks pick was The 4-Hour Workweek by the great Tim Ferriss. If you've never read it, YOU MUST! You can pick it up here:

    In upcoming posts and episodes, we'll also have a music feature. In this particular weekly segment, Brian will be giving the low down on upcoming shows, new bands, and new music. You'll get his unique perspective which will inspire you to branch out from the mainstream and explore totally different realms. 

    Episode 2 will be live next Monday, January 9th, 2017 at 6 PM Pacific Standard Time. 

PEACE!!